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Bestwood Lodge Hotel

In 1683 King Charles II granted Bestwood Lodge to his illegitimate son Henry Beauclerk, the First Duke of St Albans, whose mother is believed to be Nell Gwynn.

Subsequent Dukes held court in the original Medieval house, but the house we see today was built by the 10th Duke with the London architect S.S. Teulon. The original house was demolished in 1860 to make way for a large house in domestic Gothic style. The Lodge was finished in 1863 and lived in by the Dukes until the early 20th Century, when it was bought by Sir Frank Bowden, head of Raleigh Bikes. When it ceased to be a private home it became the headquarters for the Army during World War II and remained Ministry of Defence property until conversion into a hotel in the 1970s.